In what is becoming an annual or ­semi-annual event, President Barack Obama signed a tax bill last December that extended "bonus" depreciation for purchases of new aircraft, including business jets. With each extension, the level of enthusiasm among aircraft buyers and manufacturers has dissipated to the point where new announcements are more soporific than stimulating.

If you're in the market for a new business aircraft, the time to buy could be now. The reason is the bipartisan Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010, which became law on December 17. The Act includes 100-percent expensing for tax purposes of investments in capital assets, such as business aircraft, purchased between Sept. 8, 2010, and Dec. 31, 2011.

The good news about business aircraft financing today is that the money is back. One of the first consequences of the 2008 Wall Street meltdown was that capital disappeared faster than free beer. Many aircraft lenders still proclaimed that they were "ready to do deals," but often they lacked the financial horsepower to deliver on that promise.

Not everyone can register an aircraft in the U.S. For starters, in most cases you have to be a U.S. citizen, as defined by federal statutes and FAA regulations. Under applicable statutes and FAA rules, a corporation isn't considered a U.S. citizen unless its president, two-thirds of its board of directors, two-thirds of its "managing officers" and three-quarters of its owners are U.S.

Business jet finance probably hit bottom in early 2009. Loans have become much more available since then, but we've yet to return to the halcyon days of 2007, when you could readily arrange 100 percent financing for aircraft at purchase prices that today seem grossly inflated. As Bank of America's Michael Amalfitano pointed out, "The days of aggressive deals at thin pricing are over."

After three straight years of historically low premiums and greatly expanded coverage offerings, the struggle among aviation insurance companies to gain or hold market share has begun taking its toll. Last year the industry experienced one of its worst for aviation claims since 2001, and 2010 continues the trend.

When searching for a specific aircraft tail number, it's easy to conclude that all the good ones are taken. The folks who operate the FAA registry in Oklahoma City, however, think they've found a way to make many of these "unavailable" registration numbers magically accessible to the rest of us.

Pages

Quote/Unquote

“"My model for business is the Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other’s kind of negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other, and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. That’s how I see business: great things in business are never done by one person, they’re done by a team."
”